Central to the game lies the task of creating a set of components with which a variety of games for entertainment and/or instruction can be set up, in combination with rules which correspond to processes observable in Nature.
Thus physical, chemical, biological, sociological and other processes can be simulated and made comprehensible in the game. Thus an educational purpose going beyond the mere game can be fulfilled, and this cannot be achieved with traditional games, as their rules have a historical origin and do not possess any simple, directly interpretable scientific content.
In the invention a set of game components is used which consists basically of a base-board, several templates inscribed with co-ordinates, which can be fitted onto the base-board to designate the field of play, several variously-marked sets of pieces (figures) and a random number generator corresponding to the co-ordinates inscribed on the stencil, in addition to rules which define the use of various components in each game.
In addition there should also preferably be a tray to hold the pieces during the game. This is to be fixed over the baseplate and perforated with holes or recesses (or made out of a grating) so as to correspond with the field of play set out on the template. It is of particular advantage if this tray can consist of transparent or translucent material. As an alternative to the tray it is possible to make the baseplate and the pieces from magnetisable material or from permanent magnets. Suitable projections or mountings are used to hold the components in their correct position over the baseboard while they are in use.
A further improvement can be effected if the baseplate or a template bears a grating (preferably of squares), and the set of game components is completed with various-sized covering frames which are inscribed with appropriate co-ordinates.
It is particularly expedient if the baseplate forms the bottom of a flat box whose edges hold the templates and the tray in position.
The squares defined by the lattice net can be individually coded or inscribed. As pieces, glass balls should for preference be used, and as random number generators, various dice or pairs of dice with tetrahedral, octahedral, dodecahedral, icosahedral or similar shapes, whose faces are appropriately marked or coded. They can also consist of a top or roulette wheel, coded or inscribed so as to correspond with the rules of the various games.
The squares on the baseboard, the pieces, the random number generators and the templates can be provided with appropriate inscriptions for the various code systems, which are related to different physical, chemical or mathematical systems.
In some games additional elements are visualized, which can be brought onto the pieces or onto the tray, such as hats, frames and similar ways of distinguishing specific pieces (figures) or regions of the field of play, for example particular relationships between them. In addition, the pieces may be used with coupling elements to keep them together.
The complete game set is according to the above principle divided into various sections. The individual games are not only interesting board games for several players but also demanding instructional games, whose intellectual and aesthetic content can be made to suit any age-group. Comprehension of the didactic content is possible even in the primary-school years. A deeper appreciation comes later, as soon as simple methematical relationships are grasped and their relation to fundamental phenomena in physics, chemistry and biology is recognized. From this stage the game leads on to current research problems. In particular, it gives expression to the probabilistic character of physical laws. Relationships (whose consequences have hardly been sounded out) are touched upon, extending to biology, information science, social science and even art. The important thing is however that no specialized or scientific knowledge is presupposed in the game. The key difference between this and other well-known games (chess, draughts, Halma, Monopoly, Go, etc.) consists above all in the fact that the basic rules correspond to simple mathematical and physical regularities which are applied, at first unconsciously, in the game. Hermann Hesse comes close to the game in this invention when he speaks of the "Glass Bead Game." In accordance with this, the game in the invention is also played with glass beads or balls. But the glass balls only begin to "live" when they begin to interact with each other in a particular game. This idea is embodied in the combination realized in Nature of law and chance.